Archive | Methuen Rail Trail

The Methuen Rail Trail’s resident photographer Art Munger caught this trail user this morning. Please send in your images of the trail this winter or post them to facebook, we want to show people that the trail is usable 356 days a year.

You’re invited. Come one, come all. If you didn’t make it to First Night, you can still start the New Year off on the right foot by joining us for ‘FIRST WALK’ on the ever developing Methuen Rail Trail. You can begin your New Years resolution to take better care of yourself or to get more exercise by meeting us on Sunday, New Years Day at noon behind IHOP at the N.H. end of our Methuen Rail Trail. The sun is supposed to shine, but dress in layers anyway, and if you like, add a hat and mittens. The ground could be muddy so wear appropriate footgear.

Tired of putting her bicycle in her truck and driving to a Windham, N.H., rail trail, Methuen resident Joyce Godsey set out to advocate for a better place to ride in her own community.

For the past two years, Godsey has been spearheading the effort to convert a 2.5-mile stretch of Methuen’s abandoned railroad tracks into a rail trail. It’s possible, she said, that Methuen could have a completed rail trail by next year — at little to no cost.
“We’re lucky because we’re very uncomplicated. We don’t have residential abutters*,’’ said Godsey, who formed and heads the Methuen Rail Trail Alliance. “Methuen the city can’t afford [a rail trail conversion]. A lot of the funding comes from grants and donations. Engineering studies alone are upwards of $20,000. We don’t have the physical complexity of other people’s trails.’’
While most rail-to-trail projects can linger in the costly planning and design process for a decade, Godsey has placed Methuen’s on the fast track by accepting an offer she could not refuse — having the railroad tracks and ties removed, disposed of, and replaced with a crushed-stone surface for free by Iron Horse Preservation Society, a Reno, Nev., nonprofit. “They basically come in, take out the rail stock and in essence, they give you a rail trail,’’ Godsey said.
Since arriving in Massachusetts a few months ago to work with a group leading a rail trail project in Danvers, Joe Hattrup, Iron Horse Preservation director, said he has found the state’s process for converting rails to trails unnecessarily complicated. Creating rail trails in Massachusetts, he said, does not have to be so difficult.
“The thing that’s really sad is [communities] have been trying to get these [trails] together for, in some cases, in excess of 15 years, and it’s ridiculous,’’ Hattrup said. “Some of the cities were paying huge amounts of money, six digits, a quarter-million dollars, for these designs . . . and then you don’t have anything yet but a road map to look for more money. They do all these feasibility studies that by the time it’s done, by the time you finish your studies, it’s 10 years later and it’s not even relevant anymore.’’
This is Hattrup’s first business trip to the “east side of the Mississippi,’’ but he’s been removing old railroad tracks for the past 18 years. Five years ago, he formed Iron Horse Preservation, an organization focused not just on removing old railroad material, but on leaving behind a completed crushed-stone surface rail trail, at no cost to anyone. The 18-employee organization makes its money from the sale of the railroad material, and makes sure that none of it ends up in a landfill, Hattrup said.
This turnkey, no-cost product, which Hattrup calls “unique,’’ has quickly caught the attention of area communities in various stages of rail trail projects, as well as that of state transportation officials, some of whom have been meeting with Hattrup to further discuss his method.
The meetings may serve as an indicator of the willingness of transportation officials to move away from the state’s reputation for heavily favoring highway transit projects over bike and pedestrian projects.
According to a study released in May by the National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse, Massachusetts ranked last in the nation in allocating federal funds designated for bike and pedestrian projects.
According to the study, from fiscal years 1992 through 2009, Massachusetts was eligible for $151 million in funds, but only allocated $62 million, or 41 percent. That is an improvement over last year’s study, which indicated that until that point the state had only distributed about 37 percent of those funds.Continue Reading →

Below I have excerpted the section regarding parks, recreation and rail trail:

“During the summer, Forest Lake is a refuge from the heat for many Methuen residents. Unfortunately, due to high bacteria levels, the lake has been closed to swimming for significant parts of the last few summers. Last year, I put a team together to conduct further testing, improve land management, increase filtration and enhance animal control. As a result, the lake was able to stay open for the remainder of the summer after the improvements were made. I will continue these efforts this year and look forward to working with the revitalized Forest Lake Association.

Continuing on the subject of parks and recreation, plans for the new park and boat ramp at the former Bea’s restaurant site have been finalized and I expect construction work to begin this spring. Plans are also underway for the non-profit Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) to create and take stewardship of a “Healing Garden” at Henry P. Schruender Memorial Park on the Merrimack River. The garden will be a place for meditation and reflection. My thanks to Jayann Landry of T.I.P. and City Councilor Deborah Quinn, who have worked hard to make this possible. It will be the first Healing Garden in the area. Initial plans are also underway to construct a “rail-trail” along the abandoned rail line that runs through downtown Methuen.

Methuen is a city that is very much alive with culture and history. Last year I was happy to establish a summer concert series in historic Grey Court Park. The series was very popular and I look forward to doing it again this year. My thanks to Paul and Denis Webster Greene for all of their hard work on this concert series. The City’s Artist of the Month program continues to thrive. I look forward to meeting Methuen’s talented artists every month as they hang their work in my office.

We are close to finalizing an arrangement to move Methuen’s historic collection into the former Central School building. Last year the need for better space was highlighted by the near destruction of a priceless Robert Frost attendance register. Luckily, the register was recovered before it was damaged and was displayed publicly for the first time ever.”